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US food giant Kellogg's: "Do you think he feeds his children cereal for dinner?"

Photo: John Raoux/AP

Gary Pilnick is a multimillionaire.

And he is the CEO of the US food giant Kellogg's.

Now the manager has drawn ridicule and criticism for his statement that cash-strapped families can get by with "cereal for dinner," as the Guardian reports.

Pilnick made the comments in question live on a CNBC broadcast on February 21st.

Many people are already comparing it to the sentence “Let them eat cake,” which Marie Antoinette is said to have said before her execution during the French Revolution.

"The cereal category has always been fairly affordable and tends to be a great target when consumers are under pressure," Pilnick said amid a discussion about high food prices.

"If you think about the cost of cereal for a family compared to what they would otherwise do, it will be much more affordable."

CNBC host Carl Quintanilla then asked Pilnick whether his comments might come across the wrong way to consumers.

Since 2020, they have been forced to spend around 26% more on food.

However, Pilnick didn't let the objection stop him: "It's actually going down really well at the moment.

Cereal for dinner is something that is probably more trendy now and we expect this to continue as consumers are under pressure.«

As expected, the message was not well received by everyone.

One TikTok user mockingly referred to the multimillionaire's salary, which, according to the Securities and Exchange Commission as of September 2023, includes an annual base salary of $1 million and more than $4 million in bonuses.

"This idiot makes four million dollars a year," the user said.

“Do you think he feeds his kids cereal for dinner?”

Other users questioned whether it was healthy to eat cereal given the high sugar content of some brands.

Cereal instead of chicken

Kellogg's has been advertising its "Cereal for Dinner" campaign since around 2022.

That same year, food prices rose 9.9%, more than any year since 1979.

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also shows that grain prices have increased 28% over the past four years.

According to information from the last fiscal year, Kellogg's has increased its prices by 12 percent while the company encourages customers to eat cereal for dinner and "give chicken the night off."

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